Local synchro swimmers medal at Region A Championships

Seattle Synchro joined six other synchronized swim clubs from Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington May 18-19 in Oregon for the Charlotte Davis Region A Intermediate and Age Group Championships. Many local athletes placed high during the competitions.

By Matt Phelps • May 22, 2013 1:25 pm
Seattle Synchro 13-15 Age Group swimmers warm up their gold medal routine. The team includes swimmers from the Eastside.
Seattle Synchro 13-15 Age Group swimmers warm up their gold medal routine. The team includes swimmers from the Eastside.

Seattle Synchro joined six other synchronized swim clubs from Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington May 18-19 in Oregon for the Charlotte Davis Region A Intermediate and Age Group Championships. Many local athletes placed high during the competitions.

“I am so proud of all my girls,” head coach Lacey Ethier said. “We had some of the best swims I’ve seen all year from every team, intermediates up. Great job Seattle Synchro.”

Held at the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, the top three placing teams in each division for age groups qualify to compete in the eSynchro age group Nationals held June 21-29 in California.

Seattle Synchro took home several medals, qualifying for Nationals. The AG 13-15 first place gold medal went to Akira Baysinger of Kenmore, Kelsey Bearden of Kirkland, Lilly Cao of Sammamish, Grace Chen of Redmond, Irene Gonzalez of Seattle, Shanaya Satterfield of Woodinville, Zoe Strand of Kirkland and Maya Wallin of Mercer Island.

Baysinger, Cao and Satterfield also won gold for trio. Chen, Gonzalez and Strand won silver for trio, and Bearden and Satterfield won bronze for duet. Wallin and teammate Nina Anikeeva of Redmond came in fifth place in the duet category.

In the solo competition, Amanda Dagel of Kirkland brought home a silver medal in the AG 16-17 division and a Nationals qualification.

All of the AG 11-12 routines won medals and are off to Nationals. Sonja Hendricks and Lauren Watson, both of Kirkland, won silver and were second in duet. Bronze went to Leeza Polyakova of Sammamish and Ivy Huang of Bellevue. Along with teammate Meli Hobson of Sammamish, the five swimmers won bronze in the team routine competition.

Although the Intermediate category does not qualify for Nationals, Serina Chen of Mercer Island and Riley Pearson of Snohomish came in first place for their 13-15 Intermediate duet.

The teams will be performing during the annual team Celebration Swim event from 3-5 p.m. on June 2 at the Juanita High School pool. This is a free event but a fund raiser with a raffle and silent auction will be held. This is a chance for kids who can do crawl stroke and breast stroke one lap of the pool can jump in and try synchro at the end of the show.

More information about the team and summer synchro camps in Kirkland and Medina is @ www.seattlesynchro.com or 253-951-4388.